"GREEN" LABORATORY BUILDING DEDICATED AT 2008 ANNUAL MEETING

Above, Director John Forrest, M.D., Trustee Wistar Morris, and Board Chair Terence Boylan cut the ribbon on the new building.

Dr. Forrest, State Representative Hannah Pingree, Wistar Morris, State Senator Dennis Damon, Terence Boylan, MDIBL Treasurer Max Brenninkmeyer, and Associate Adminstrative Director Charlie Wray celebrate at the building dedication on July 24, 2008.

The new building, home of the the Martha and Wistar Morris Center for the Environment and Human Health, and the John W. and Jean C. Boylan Center for Cellular and Molecular Physiology

SALISBURY COVE - 175 scientists, students, community members, staff, and elected officials gathered at the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory (MDIBL) on Thursday morning, July 24, to dedicate it’s new “green” laboratory building and celebrate the completion of the first biomedical research facility in Maine to be certified for leadership in energy efficiency and design (LEED) by the U.S. Green Building Council.

     Addressing the crowd assembled in a large tent facing the entrance to the 15,000 square foot, cottage-style building, Terence Boylan, Chairman of MDIBL’s Board of Trustees, said that with the new, environmentally friendly building, “MDIBL was standing at the edge of the next frontier in biomedical research.”  He commended everyone involved for their outstanding support, and the builders for finishing “on time and under budget.” 

     Nickerson and O’Day of Bangor was the construction manager for the $7.1 million dollar project.  WBRC Architects and Engineers, also of Bangor, designed the building, and Allied Engineering of Portland, Maine, was the commissioning agent.

     The dedication provided the focal point of the Annual Meeting of the MDIBL, a marine laboratory founded in 1898 with a unique focus on biomedical research and the interaction between health and the environment.  The new building offers laboratory space for six research groups, the Marine DNA Sequencing and Analysis Facility, and a teaching laboratory for MDIBL’s hands-on research training programs.  It will house two new research centers:  the Martha and Wistar Morris Center for the Environment and Human Health, and the John W. and Jean C. Boylan Center for Cellular and Molecular Physiology.

     Speakers at the dedication ceremony commended the building’s designers and builders for constructing one of the most, if not the most, energy efficient laboratories in the world.  The building uses 48% less energy and 46% less water than a comparable, conventionally designed laboratory would be expected to use, and saves the equivalent of 10,229 gallons of gasoline annually. 

      Green building methods used during construction mean that trees cut to clear the building site were used as lumber in the building and 90% of construction waste was diverted from the landfill through recycling.  Steel with a high recycled content was used, as well as soy-based insulation and lumber certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.  The roof is super-insulated with panels from Hunter Panels in Portland, Maine.

     Representatives of Senators Snowe and Collins and Congressman Michaud, Commissioner of the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development John Richardson, State Senator Dennis Damon, and State Representative Sean Faircloth spoke at the event and heralded the new laboratory’s contribution to science, health, and the Maine economy.  80% of the total $7.1 million cost was spent in Maine and 40% of all construction materials were purchased within a 500 mile radius of Bar Harbor. The Maine Biomedical Research Fund provided support for the project, as did many private donors and foundations.

Click here for a pictoral chronicle of the construction process.

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